Butterfly Culture
by erynnasfics
Summary: "She's got you high and you don't even know yet / the sun's in the sky, it's warming up your bare legs / and you can't deny, you're looking for a sunset." War is stirring outside the walls of Hogwarts, drawing closer every second and threatening to overwhelm - but until that point there are dusks and sundresses, pillow fights and laughter, and young innocent life to live.
1. From Now On

_A soft sound_

_To the way that she wears her hair down,_

_Covering up her face._

_9:17 am, 1__st__ September 1976_

It was 9:17 on a Wednesday morning, and Lily Evans had cursed the irritating, chirpy alarm on the bedside table at least fifty times since she had woken up. At 9:15am. _Damn school train._

With the alarm finally subdued into silence, she listened for signs of life from the rest of her house from her position on the bed, cocooned in a bright, flowered duvet. Faint sounds of thumping were floating through the air from what Lily could only assume was her father trying to find her trunk in the attic – scratch that, now there was much louder thumping and some rather creative cursing as the trunk tumbled down the stairs. Typical. Hoisting the duvet up under her arms, Lily rolled off the bed and shuffled over to the door, shouldering it open.

"Dad?" Lily called tentatively, peeking around the door. "You okay?" This was followed by a loud stomping and the sound of low muttering coming from somewhere to the left. Lily squinted through a haze of sleep at the door at the end, still slightly ajar with the corner of the trunk sticking out, label folded and crushed under it. "Dad?" After a few long moments Harold Evans made a dramatic entrance, tripping over the trunk and catching himself on the hall door, slippered foot wedged between the case and the wall.

"Yes? Hmm?" He peered over his glasses in the general direction of Lily's door, looking confused and trying to free his foot.

"I heard crashing." Lily replied, rolling her eyes and grinning slightly at her father's predicament.

"Well that would be this bloody trunk, I don't know _what_ you keep in here." He grumbled, dislodging his foot and pushing his glasses back up his nose.

"Bricks, by the sound of things." Lily's mother commented, bustling past with a pile of robes and shirts slung over her arm, her dark hair piled on top of her head and an apron tied around her slim waist. "Harold, what on _earth_ are you doing? You've woken up the whole neighborhood." She scolded, thrusting the pile of clothes into her daughter's face. "Lily? Earth to Lily?" She snapped her fingers, holding out the robes impatiently. "You're going to have to wake up at some point, Lily dear." Lily held out her arms sheepishly and took the pile of clothes, withdrawing back into her room and leaning on the door, relieved at the momentary quiet. It was short lived, however, and a few seconds later Cynthia Evans could be heard through the closed door scolding her husband, her voice fading as she descended the stairs to the kitchen. A few moments later Lily's father knocked on the door and pushed it open a little, sticking his head around. "Lils? I've got your trunk, Mum says you've got to pack your clothes," he informed her, before withdrawing and padding away down the hall. Lily glanced at the dreaded alarm clock wonkily placed on the table and groaned - 9:21am. As she got up she was pretty sure that in the past six years that she'd been catching the train, her family should have learnt that leaving at ten just wasn't going to cut it - but still, every year there they were, with half an hour until go-time and Lily's robes still not packed. Still, as she rooted through her underwear drawer she guessed it was her fault. Partly.

Thirty seconds later she opened the door, kicking her duvet to the side and dragging her trunk in, both hands tugging on the worn handle. She finally managed to get it through the door and proceeded to the lid up, looking at the piles of books in it critically. She decided that stuffing was probably the best technique with only... 34 minutes left until she needed to leave the house. She grabbed the neatly ironed heap of clothes on the bed and shoved all of her robes and school clothes into the case, glancing around the room for any missed shoes or shirts. She caught her reflection in the mirror and gaped, jumping over the still open case. "Merlin..." She muttered, poking at the bags under her eyes - as if that would help. Settling for pulling her mercifully untangled shock of orange hair back into a high ponytail, she threw open her wardrobe, searching through for some acceptable clothes. She pulled out her well-worn jeans and a turtleneck jumper, throwing them onto her bed and looking around the rest of the room. _Lucky I live with a neat freak for a mother, or I'd never find anything._ She sorted through a pile of books on her desk, throwing the odd couple into the trunk, and a spare quill had just uncovered itself when a door slammed somewhere in the house. Lily's head snapped up and she froze, before slowly creeping to her door and opening it slightly. As she had suspected, her sweet, sweet sister had thrown open her bedroom door and was standing in the frame, looking like murder. Murder with blow-dried brunette hair and pink lip-gloss on. "WHO is making all that UNGODLY racket?" She screeched, heading for the stairs.

"Petunia dear, why don't check if your sister's ready?" Cynthia called up in a tone not worth arguing with. _Merlin's saggy left ball, where am I going to _\- "Oh, hey Petunia." Lily greeted sweetly as Petunia shoved the door open.

"Mum asks if you're ready." Petunia snapped, keeping her sharp gaze trained deliberately away from the trunk on the floor, which had a large eagle feather quill poking out of it, and the wand conveniently jutting off of a bookshelf about 5 inches from her face.

Lily looked left to the floor length mirror next to her desk, and raised her eyebrows. "Yes, you know I _was_ planning on boarding the train to school in pink pajamas." She mused, mocking thoughtfulness.

"_Her _pink pajamas." Petunia replied, flipping her hair and flouncing out of the room, leaving a cloying smell of artificial roses behind. "MUM, LILY'S NOT EVEN OUT OF HER PAJAMAS." Petunia called, and slammed her bedroom door behind her. Lily winced as she heard her mother's reaction, and stared at Petunia's door venomously - ever the sweet, considerate sibling. She sat on her case and wrestled the fastenings closed, struggling to stand up to close the door so she could change. She crossed her room to close the curtains and picked up the stack of letters on her mantelpiece, sorting through them and smiling slightly. The long, looping handwriting of her best friend, Marlene McKinnon, is on the top envelope and she slid the parchment out of it to read through her note once more.

**Meet me by the barrier at 10:55 - NO LATER. I missed you on the platform last year and spent the whole journey crushed between the wall of the train and Damocles Belby, so I will be laying ALL BLAME on you if he corners me again this year. **

**Love, Marlene **

Lily rolled her eyes as she read through the message - it had only arrived the day before, by way of Marlene's tawny, Orion. The story of her experience with the seventh year Hufflepuff had been well told, and Lily slipped the parchment back into its envelope with a fond grin, dropping the pile of letters from her friends on her pillow. She threw her pajamas onto the bed and began to wrestle her jeans on, hopping over to her desk to pick up the lip-gloss balancing precariously on the edge. Finally managing to do up her jeans and pull her jumper over her head, she slipped her watch into her pocket and tightened her ponytail, rushing down the top part of the staircase.

"LILY EVANS, IF YOU DON'T GET DOWN THESE STAIRS RIGHT - Oh, there you are, dear. Breakfast's on the table!" Cynthia called after Lily as she dodged past her mother on the landing that split their stairs in half, proceeding to jump the last couple of steps onto the large flagstones of the kitchen.

Lily's father was sitting at the large wooden kitchen table, glasses perched on the end of his nose and busy leafing through a newspaper, worn slippers on his feet and a piece of forgotten toast in his left hand. He jumped as his daughter approached, dropping the paper, but relaxed quickly enough.

"Oh, it's only you Lils."

_Thanks. _

"I thought you were your mother for a second, gave me a scare..." He trailed off, and then waved his hand over to the counter. "Toast and marmalade, no time for anything else according to Cynthia." That made more sense. Lily hurried over to the counter and picked up a piece of toast, taking a few quick bites and glancing at the carriage clock on the mantelpiece - 9:31am.

"LILY!"

_Merlin, what's wrong now?_ Lily gave her father a look, but he only shrugged helplessly in response, leaving her to swing round the wooden banister and back up the stairs, wiping her hands on her jeans.

"Mum?" She called, wondering where the voice had come from. The answering 'in here, dear,' came from Lily's bedroom, and she frowned slightly as she pushed the door open. She walked in to the sight of her mother bent double over the trunk in the middle of the room, trying to wrestle it onto its side so that she could move it downstairs. "Have you packed everything?" She panted. "Robes? Books? Clothes?" Lily nodded along as her mother listed everything she might need, stepping around her to get to the bed as the trunk finally tipped up. She scooped up the pile of letters on the pillow and put them in the desk drawer, sliding it closed. "I packed her normal clothes last week and her robes this morning." Lily replied to her frantic mother, reaching over to take her wand off of the bookshelf and tuck it into her jeans. "Have you seen Caspar?"

At that moment a disgusted looking Petunia barged into the room, depositing a tabby cat into Lily's arms and wiping her hands furiously on her patterned dress. "I've told you, if you don't keep that _repugnant _fleabag out of her bedroom I'll throw it out of the window." She spat, fixing her sister with a beady glare and stalking out of the room, leaving Lily to calm down a writhing Caspar and their mother to heave the case over to the door. Petunia's voice could be heard talking to someone through the open doorways and Lily craned her neck to listen.

"I'm back, Vernon dear, it's just her freakish sister and that school of hers -" She was cut off as she shut her bedroom door, and Lily bent down to drop Caspar onto the floor. He streaked through her mother's legs and down the stairs at breakneck speed, fleeing from the hurricane that was Petunia Evans in the morning.

"Your sister does get awfully worked up about things, doesn't she?" Kathryn mused, shifting the case out of the door. "Your dad's put your cauldron and Caspar's carry basket in the car already, now we just have to get this great hulking thing down the stairs and – "HAROLD, WHY IS THE CAULDRON IN THE KITCHEN?" Kathryn shrieked, leaving Lily to deal with the case. Her hand itched to take out her wand and levitate it down the stairs, but that was a no-go area, until January at least.

She knew her parents were fascinated by magic and her 'gift', but sometimes she wished that her mother wouldn't say 'cauldron' and 'wand' with such reverence - even if she were yelling at Lily's father in the process. It was a bit alienating, to say the least. Lily winced as she heard her sister laughing down the phone; at least she didn't have to worry about reverence with her. _"Just her freakish sister and that school of hers…" _Lily shook her head to clear her thoughts and heaved her trunk down the five or six stairs to the mini landing, stopping for a break before pushing it down the last few, thumping it on every stair in between the landing and the kitchen floor. The chair at the end of the kitchen table where her father had been sitting was empty, and Lily could see her parents in the driveway through the slightly open kitchen window. She called to them that she had her case ready and picked up another piece of toast, holding it in her mouth as she walked over to the door.

"Right Lil, everything ready?" Harold asked, ducking through the door and looking at Lily appraisingly. She nodded in return and finished her second slice of toast, wiping her hands on a tea towel on the counter next to her and checking that her wand was safe in her pocket. "Yep, I'm all done." She replied, frowning slightly the feeling that she had forgotten something. She held up one finger and darted away through the door next to the stairs. "One second!" she called, and heard the answering chuckle as she hurried through the white-carpeted sitting room to her dad's study. She passed the cracked red leather chair and the old wooden bookshelf to get to his desk, opening the drawer and taking out some of the larger leather bound tomes to uncover a tarnished brass pocket watch at the bottom of the drawer. It had long since stopped working, but it had her father's initials on it from when he was at school and she'd been taking it to Hogwarts since First year. Lily closed the drawer and glanced up as the cuckoo clock on the wall started calling 9:45, the bright birds popping out of the door and contrasting with the faded green wallpaper. She darted out of the door and back through to the kitchen where her mother was standing waiting, arms outstretched.

"Your father's waiting in the car." She said, smiling fondly, and pulled Lily in for a hug. Lily rested her chin on her mother's shoulder and linked her arms around her middle, taking a last look at the exposed beams and white cabinets of the kitchen. "Caspar's in the car, and your dad's got the trunk in." Kathryn added quietly, kissing the side of her daughter's head before letting go. "Have a good time, darling. I'll see you at Christmas." She said, giving a watery smile. Lily tried her best to smile in return – she always hated leaving home, it was the worst part of boarding school. Well, almost the worst thing. Lily pushed the thoughts of Potter's letter out of her head and waved as she walked out of the door, jogging to the small car and pulling the slightly rusted door open. She slid one foot in and paused, following the purple creeper up the side of the house with her eyes to Petunia's bedroom window. It was empty, as always.

"Lil? You're going to have to get in at some point, love." Harold coaxed gently, turning on the engine. Lily shook her head clear – it had stopped bothering her that Petunia never said goodbye. It had. She ducked into the car and leaned back, looking at the clock on the dashboard – 9:52.

_10:42_

Lily jumped out of the car and walked around to the boot, nodding to her dad when he told her that he was off to get a trolley. People bustled around her and she allowed herself a grin for the first time that day, looking down at the ground – she going back. Finally. Leaning her back against the side of the car and pulling the sleeves of her jumper down, she waited for her dad to come back and looked around at the people around her, the grin still faintly evident on her face. Finally she saw him weaving through the crowds of people with a large trolley, frowning in concentration and avoiding the sea of screaming children and stressed adults. Her case was sitting at the very front of the boot of the car, and she pulled it out, banging the corner on the ground and letting it down gently.

"Anyone around you recognise?" Her dad asked, pulling the trunk onto the lower part of the trolley and picking up Caspar's basket gingerly, hearing a hiss from inside. Lily shook her head, glancing around once more to check and reaching in to pull out her cauldron. It was placed on the trolley with the rest of her stuff and pushed across the car park by her father, leaving she to shut the boot of the car and jog after him, trying not to get separated.

They finally reached the platform and began to battle over to the barrier, muggle trains lining the platforms with harried looking businessmen jumping on and off, and wardens strolling along the platform blowing whistles and slamming doors. Lily took over from her Dad, pushing the trolley towards platform ten and assuming a neutral expression, looking around disinterestedly. She leaned against the brick barrier, her heart picking up speed, and slipped through quickly, pulling her trolley after her. She knew her dad would follow in a second – he was always squeamish about the barrier, worried someone would see.

Lily emerged on the other side of the platform, the grin back in full force. She'd been getting letters from Alice, Marlene and Mary all summer, but letters don't quite add up so the real thing. All of them lived north of London, as opposed to her house in north of Surrey, so visiting each other was made harder – they'd met up in London a couple of times, she supposed, but if she was honest it was the castle she missed most.

She looked around the platform, moving quickly away from the barrier as more families and then her stressed father made their way through. Younger siblings of students at the school were screaming and laughing, clinging onto their parents' legs or playing tag, weaving through the crowds. Lily saw one boy, about 8 years old, finding his way onto the huge scarlet train at the platform, which was belching steam into the air at an impressive rate. He was pulled out by his mother, who scolded him in a low voice as a group of Ravenclaw third years laughed at his predicament. Students of all ages from the school jumped on and off of the train, calling to their parents, a cacophony of voices chastising, shouting, and laughing to one another. Her father tapped her on the shoulder and she turned, trying to make out where he was standing through the heaving mass of people between them. He came into her direct line of view a couple of seconds later, red in the face and harried looking.

"Lils, I'm gonna have to get out of here before the train leaves or it's going to be mad in here." He apologized, stepping sideways as a third year Hufflepuff slammed into him and ran straight back off again towards the train, chasing her friend. Lily nodded and abandoned her trolley for a second, throwing her arms around her father, but this time there was no chance of a serene goodbye and Lily had to let go before her trolley was pushed over.  
"I'll write to you!" She called, and just caught a glimpse of his wave as the crowd swallowed him up, leaving her alone. The watch on her left wrist showed 10:53, indicating that Marlene should be joining her in a second. Lily leaned her back against the side of the barrier, making sure that she wasn't on the side that she'd fall through, and went up on her tiptoes to try to make out Marlene's light blonde hair in the crowd. A dead weight crashed into her side and Marlene made herself known, hugging Lily tightly and stifling a grin.

"You are cutting it _very _finely, Lily Evans." She chastised, hitting Lily around the head with a sheaf of parchment that Lily could only assume was her Hogwarts letter. "Belby's been eyeing me since twenty to." Lily laughed and shook her head.

"Okay, I doubt he's been _eyeing_ you." She replied – Marlene, although a tomboy and more bothered about quidditch than makeup, was convinced half the male population were in love with her, and wouldn't hear a word against it. O_kay_, _I have looked up a few times in potions when Belby's been eyeing her, but only once or twice. Maybe._ "How was your summer?" Lily ventured, attempting to get Marlene off the subject of her male admirers.

"_Well_, you know I was telling you about going to the South of France? Lily, the _boys _there…" She implored, pulling her trolley closer and speaking at a mile a minute. Lily nodded along vaguely, starting to push her own trolley towards the loading car.

Marlene McKinnon had been her best friend since second year, when she calmed down a little and stopped glaring at everyone who tried to talk to her. She still did that sometimes, but to be honest that was just how Marlene was – she could barely stand anyone who wasn't Gryffindor, and even then you were lucky if she talked to you. Or unlucky, depending on how you looked at it.

"So _then _Mum said that we could go back next year, because it was all resting on her OWL results." She finished.

Lily perked up a little at the mention of her exam results, and then felt guilty for not listening. She leaned her hip against her trolley, reaching to the side and picking up Caspar's carry basket. "So, what did you get?" She asked.

Marlene looked at her oddly. "Were you even listening then?" She asked, and Lily nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, South of France and going back next year." She replied, poking her fingers through the metal grid door of the basket.

Marlene shrugged and pulled her long blonde hair over one shoulder. "All E's apart from an O in charms." She said proudly, and Lily wasn't surprised – Marlene had always been a genius at Charms. "Oh, and an Acceptable in Care of Magical Creatures, but who cares about that?" She shoved the stack of parchment into her jacket pocket and nodded her thanks to the wizard who had taken her largest trunk off the trolley and pushed it to the side. The same wizard took Lily's off and put her cauldron in the storage car of the train, and she took out her wand to levitate her trunk through the doors of the train. The crowd was beginning to clear a little at that point, and she glanced up to the numeral clock above her. 10:59 was being shown, and she dropped her trunk into the corridor.

She was immediately met by a huge cacophony of shouting – a thousand magical students on a train, what would you expect? A fanged Frisbee shot past and she ducked, hearing a shriek behind her.

"I'LL TAKE THAT OFF YOU." She heard, and turned around to the furious form of Emmeline Vance, obviously just done with disentangling the Frisbee from her dark, wavy hair. "Merlin's wand, why do people even use them?" She muttered, before pulling a startled Lily into a bone-crushing hug and beaming as students pushed past them on all sides.

Emmeline was usually calm and collected, and Lily was thrown off for a second – of course, she had a hot temper, but Marlene was sort of… Permanently hostile. Ravenclaw vs. Gryffindor - which is why, Lily supposed, it was so terrifying when she flew into a rage. With Marlene it was common procedure.

Lily extricated herself from the hug and grinned, keeping one hand on Caspar's basket. Doors started slamming up and down the train and Lily started to search for an empty compartment, but all of them seemed to be full to bursting. Emmeline rolled her eyes fondly and smiled, calmer since the hysteric second years had ducked into their compartment.

"Alice and I've got one down the other end." She said, pulling Lily by the arm. "Mary's somewhere down the other end of the train with Benjy Fenwick." She proceeds to lead Lily and Marlene through a group of fourth year Slytherins, apparently trying to get through a locked door.

"Not gonna work, idiots. That one's for the prefects." Marlene reminded them, looking amused, and Lily heard a loud thump as one of the boys hit his friend upside the head.

"I _told_ you. Didn't I tell you it was? Saw Narcissa walking in there a minute ago…" Their voices faded just as Emmeline located the compartment; sliding the door open just as the train lurched forwards and began to move, steam billowing past the windows in fluffy clouds.

Alice Prewett sat in the corner of the compartment, a Gryffindor scarf wound loosely around her neck and a thick book on her lap, her feet up on the bench seat. She looked up as Emmeline sat down next to her and pushed her feet off the seat, beaming at Lily and closing her book. "You're here!" She greeted, shoving Emma lightly with her foot in return. "Beginning to think you weren't coming." Lily made a face in return, laughing.

"I'm not /that/ bad, Alice."

"If you say so. Want any help with your trunk?" She asked, slipping her book into the brown satchel next to her feet.

"I'm good, thanks. Could you let Caspar out though?" Lily replied, frowning in concentration as she levitated her case onto the luggage rack. "Careful, he's stressed out from the car ride." She added, sitting down opposite Alice with Marlene on her right. Alice unlatched the basket gingerly and the small tabby cat shot out, winding his way around Marlene's legs – she was his favourite, for some reason. Lily crossed her legs and leaned back, watching the grime of London fly past. "Hear anything about the OWL results over summer?" She addressed the whole compartment, but it was Alice who answered – Emma was already engrossed in a copy of the _Quibbler_, a fat packet of pepper imps next to her, and Marlene was stroking Caspar absently.

"Yeah, loads actually." Alice replied. "Frank told me that Ravenclaw got the best in the school overall." _No surprise there, I guess. _She scratched her button nose thoughtfully. "Slytherin came a close second, though." _Bloody Slytherins._

"You know only about ten people are carrying on Ancient Runes?" Emma commented, flipping a page idly.  
"I didn't even know that many people did the OWL." Marlene frowned, a glint in her eyes. Emma flicked an imp at her without looking, frowning at the colourful article on the page she was reading. "Come on, it's not exactly scintillating." Marlene insisted.

Lily smiled, rolling her eyes as a heated discussion began next to her on the merits of ancient runes versus Defense against the Dark Arts. Picking up the copy of the _Daily Prophet _that rested on the seat, she unfolded it and shook it out.

A massive headline was emblazoned in black above a moving picture of a young, grimy wizard with dank blonde hair – EX-STUDENT CONVICTED BY WIZENGAMOT. Lily peered more closely at the picture – _couldn't be older than twenty_, she thought to herself - _must've been at Hogwarts while I have. _His eyes were disturbingly angry as he yelled at the camera, and Lily switched her gaze to the short article teaser underneath.

_"__Twenty-two year old Evan Samuels was seen at the grand court of the Wizengamot today, after spending a week in a holding cell in the Ministry of Magic on suspicion of placing the Unforgivable Imperius Curse on several members of the wizarding community. He was apprehended on August 25__th__, after attempting to curse a ministry official._

_Read more on page 4 -"_

Lily frowned and a shiver shot down her spine as she finished the article teaser, deciding against turning to page four. Things had been getting worse in the wizarding world every day, despite the ministry's efforts. Caspar jumped onto her lap and she stroked him slowly, staring out of the window with her eyebrows furrowed, watching the suburbs fly past, the paper forgotten and held loosely in her hand. At least, until a sharp jab jerked her out of her daydream and a pepper imp hit her in the forehead.

"You're going to end up throwing more of those than you eat." Alice commented mildly, as Lily rubbed her arm and glared at Marlene.

"We've been shouting your name for at least thirty seconds, dreamer." Marlene pointed accusingly. "And stop rubbing your arm, it wasn't _that_ hard."

"It was too!" Lily argued, but lowered her hand anyway, reaching down to pick up the dropped newspaper. She decided not to mention the article, folding up the paper with the front page firmly on the inside and slipping it down the side of the seat.

"So, apart from Marlene and her mystery French lovers, where did everyone else go during summer?" Alice asked, and dodged a poke from Marlene; Lily laughed as Emmeline screwed her face up at the taste of the pepper imps and Alice hit her on the leg with her book when she refused to give her one. This was what they were meant to be doing – laughing and arguing and discussing stupid end of year exams, without the dark cloud of war hanging over their heads.

A loud wolf whistle suddenly pierced the air from outside the compartment, and the four all looked up at the same time. Alice stopped fighting with a giggling Emmeline and froze, and Marlene looked up to the door with a venomous glare. "Black, what the hell are you doing here?"

The tall, lean figure of one Sirius Black could be seen outside the door, grinning at the girls through the glass and putting his hand out to rest on the handle.

"On the train, Marley?" He asked, after sliding the door open and sloping in. "Well, you see, I _do_ go to this school."

"All the worse for us." Marlene muttered, and Lily couldn't blame her for saying it. Black was possibly the most arrogant person she'd ever met, next to James Potter. And they were best friends. It was like the worst double act you could get – a disgusting amount of arrogance mixed with a thought that they can do anything and get away with anything made for possibly the two most detestable people she'd ever met.

"No, _here,_ Black. In our compartment." Lily took over from Marlene, turning in her seat to face him.

"Lilykins!" He exclaimed, and Lily put her hand on her wand warningly as he stepped closer to her – _how am I to know that he won't slip a Filibuster down the back of her seat or drop a dungbomb into the basket still open on the floor next to me?_ He put his hands up and paused, smirking.

"Fine, fine." He said genially. "James wants a word with you, Evans." He added, slouching slightly against the wall and putting his hands in his pockets, flicking his long dark hair out of his eyes.

"My, the ringleader himself?" Lily replied, leaning back in her seat. "How come he's sent a flying monkey to bring me to him then?" A shadow of a smile passed over Emmeline's face and Marlene folded her arms, looking up at him.

"Oh no Evans, I came here voluntarily. I just _had _to look upon the beauty of Miss McKinnon here before term starts and she transforms into the banshee she really is." He smiled sweetly and turned to leave the compartment. "Coming?"

Lily could almost see the smoke billowing of Marlene's nostrils, and she swore she could see her eyes flicker red. "Fine." Lily snapped, pushing Caspar gently off of her lap and standing up.

"Good luck." Alice called as Lily left the room, and she glanced back to her. "You too." She grinned wryly, tilting her head towards Marlene and sliding the door closed.

"Well, this is cosy." Black commented in a low voice as Lily turned and found herself faced by an expanse of grey-clothed torso. "Out of the way, Black." Lily said irritably, side-stepping around him. She followed him down the long corridor of the train with her arms crossed against her chest, clearing her throat when he stopped for a few moments so a Hufflepuff fifth year with blonde hair and a short skirt could simper over him. "Walking here." She said loudly, and the girl shot her a look and flounced back into her cabin, reminding Lily horribly of a blonde Petunia.

"You're certainly wound tight today, Evans." Black commented, slowing down his pace as they reached the compartment.

"Your fault." Lily retorted, and immediately regretted the childish reply. With her friends it would be normal, but with Black it always seemed like a competition to find the wittiest comeback. He sniggered and slid the door open, and she was met by a massive bellowing yell and shouts of "FOR GOD'S SAKE SHUT UP, JAMES." She winced and stepped in, taking in her surroundings. James Potter was spread over an entire bench seat, his head resting on his folded school jumper and his legs stretched out. A brown bag was on the floor with sweets and what look like large, pink, immobile beetles spilling out of it, and there were sweet wrappers littering the floor already.

Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew were sitting on the other bench – polar opposites, really. Lupin had mousey hair that flopped over his forehead and a thin body, with bags under his eyes and a long scar down his neck that to Lily's knowledge he never talked about. He wasn't unattractive exactly, just sort of… Underfed.

On the other hand, Peter Pettigrew was a little overweight with a thatch of light blonde hair and a pink-tinged face. He had small features, giving him the look of a rat or some other rodent – She'd never say it to him, of course. It was just one of those things you can't avoid thinking when you look at someone. He was sweet though, she supposed.

"Lupin, Pettigrew." Lily greeted, nodding to them. She could just about stand them – they worked hard enough, and to be honest they never seemed to be frontrunners in the schemes Black and Potter came up with.

"Hey, Lily." Lupin replied quietly, grinning at her and shooting James a look.

James Potter was a completely different story. He had messy black hair and a royal air, although he didn't deserve one, in Lily's opinion. He had somehow managed to get hold of a remembrall and was throwing it up and catching it repeatedly, one handed. Lily felt like jogging him just to wipe the smirk off of his face.

"Evans." He greeted, seemingly relaxed, although the bellow Lily had heard when she came through the door said differently.

"Potter." She returned stiffly. Usually she would try to at least be civil, but there was really no point. _I'll lose my temper in about thirty seconds anyway, so why bother._ "Black said you wanted to talk to me?"

"What? Oh, yeah. How was your summer, Evans?"

Sirius snorted and moved from his position leant against the wall to the space between James's feet and the arm of the seat. "Smooth, mate." He muttered, and Lily found herself actually agreeing with him.

She gaped at James, shaking her head as Black shoved him. "Move, fat-arse." He complained, and James retaliated by putting his foot as close as possible to Sirius's face as he could without actually touching it. At least it gave her time to think – she looked to Lupin for help but he shrugged helplessly, stifling a smile as he watched the other two.

"Potter, if you don't want to talk to me about anything, I'm going back to my friends." Lily announced, turning to leave.

"Evans, wait!" She span back around slowly, one hand on the frame of the door, and was met with an interesting sight – James with his square framed glasses askew and hair messier than ever, his hand pressed into Black's face to keep him away and his foot jammed against Sirius's knee. "Wait. I just wanted to know if you got your letter."

Lily sensed Lupin perking up next to her, and even Black stopped fighting to look at James incredulously. "You sent her a letter? Thought you gave up with that. It was a good move if you ask me, mate." James threw him a lazily irritated look and let go of Black's face to punch him in the arm.

"Shut it, Black." Lily said, folding her arms and sighing. He was talking about the daily love notes Potter had plagued her with from second to fourth year, even after she repeatedly tore them up, set them alight or used them as blotting paper. It had got old very, very quickly. "It was just a stupid note asking if I'd taken your supply of dung bombs home by accident."

"That's where they went!" Black shouted, sitting upright. Lily shot him a look _– Merlin, how often does he think I mix my luggage with James Potter's?_

"I hadn't." She finished. "He's got them, probably." She jerked her head toward Potter, who gave Black a sheepish grin and held his hands up. Lily turned around firmly so that she could walk back to the right carriage, praying that they wouldn't call her back again. "Bye, Evans!" She heard from Potter as the door closed, and a stage whispered 'It's _Lilykins_' from Sirius. She resisted the urge to slap them both and walked back down to the compartment, counting slowly to ten in her head and making a decision there and then avoid them as much as possible from that point on. _Good plan, Lily._


	2. Friends

_Cause I've got friends,_

_I've got family here,_

_They say these kids are diseased, _

_But we've got love to share._

The windows were dark and rain splattered by the time they reached Edinburgh, and everyone was feeling like they'd been on the train for long enough. About three hours into the journey Mary MacDonald had joined the compartment and Emmeline had left to see her Ravenclaw housemates, leaving the four Gryffindor girls to occupy themselves for the last half of the long, tedious journey. Marlene had curled up in the corner with her feet under Lily's leg to go to sleep around Manchester, and Lily had spent the last two hours looking out of the slowly darkening window, watching the countryside whizz past, and playing exploding snap with Alice and Mary. Marlene had slept like a log through the whole thing, only waking up when the snoring had become too much and Mary had taken action, hitting Marlene over the head with a sizeable transfiguration textbook, shouting at her to wake up. Even then it took Marlene a couple of seconds to stir, frowning and rubbing her head.

"Did someone hit me?" She grumbled, pushing the heavy cloak Lily had draped over her legs off of her.

"No idea what you're talking about, dear." Replied Mary airily, before any of the others could answer. Lily grinned at her while Alice frowned accusingly, and they all returned to their various states of boredom.

Even after seven hours in the compartment, however, Marlene still found it in her to perk up considerably, her magazine on the seat next to her and Caspar in her lap. "Hear that? I hear the trolley." She grinned, and Mary and Lily both looked up.

"Think Alice'll want anything?" Lily asked, glancing to her now sleeping form in the corner of the compartment.

"We'll get her a couple of cauldron cakes, she loves them." Replied Marlene, pawing at her pockets for money. "Anyone got…" She paused, counting the coins in her hand. "A spare sickle? I'll pay you back at school."

Mary nodded and flipped the coin to Marlene, who was standing at the door with her hand on the handle. She caught it easily and slid the panel open, stopping the old lady just in time.  
"Uh… Four cauldron cakes, two packs of Drooble's, a liquorice wand and a chocolate frog. Please." Lily nodded as Marlene tacked her chocolate frog onto the end and was about to sit back down when a loud voice floated through the door.

"That all for you, McKinnon?" A low whistle followed, and an angry "Shove off, Black, or I'll hex you." The rattling of the trolley could be heard as the little witch pushed it further down the train, and Lily stepped closer to the door to eavesdrop.

"Like to see that." Came James's voice, and Mary gave Lily a warning look.

"Don't get involved, Lil, he's just – " She was cut off as a loud 'POP' sounded, followed by a grunt, then Marlene's voice.

"There, you saw." She replied coldly, and stepped back into the compartment with her wand in her hand and her arms full of food. "Bloody arrogant gits, the lot of them. 'I'd like to see that', well there you go, serves him right." She muttered to herself, throwing Lily her chocolate frog and sitting back down in her seat, fuming.

"What did you do?" Lily asked, opening the frog packet and poking Alice with her foot to wake her up.

"Just made sure that his idiotic grin wasn't quite so angelic any more." Marlene said, and then seemed to struggle with herself for a second before a grin broke out across her face. "I'm pretty sure I'm angry right now, but he looked _ridiculous_." She said gleefully, passing Emma her cauldron cake as Alice shuffled and woke up groggily.

Suddenly, the compartment door slid open and crashed against the framework, showing a James Potter who looked like he just won the lottery. Alice squeaked and jumped out of her confused half-consciousness, and Lily almost dropped her frog in surprise, looking up and glaring.

"McKinnon, next time you give my best mate walrus tusks, for the love of Merlin do it in the Great Hall." He implored, before he was pushed out of the way to reveal Remus Lupin, who shoved James in the back and rolled his eyes. "Go find Sirius, he's probably sobbing in a corner somewhere – good hex, Marlene." He added, glancing at her, and she bowed.

The whole time Mary, Alice and Lily had been looking at Marlene with various degrees of disapproval and glee on their faces, and as Pettigrew slid the compartment door shut Mary burst into peals of laughter.

"You did _what_?" Alice asked incredulously. "You better be grateful none of the teachers saw, or you'd be in big trouble."

"They'd probably give me points, it was a damn good hex." Marlene shrugged, a half smirk on her face. "Lils, gimme a hand with my trunk, we're almost there."

"How much longer, d'you think?" Mary asked, after her giggling fit had subsided. Lily stood up to help Marlene pull her sizeable trunk down and glanced out of the window at the shadowy, rain-washed landscape of moors outside the window. "Not long. Half an hour?" Lily replied, finally pulling down the trunk and wincing as it crashed to the floor. She pulled her considerably smaller case down on top of it with effort, and flipped the lid up to pull out her robes.

"Close the blinds, Alice?" She asked, digging through the case to the bottom to pull out shoes and a tie. Marlene pushed the smaller case off hers with her foot, opening her own and throwing various pairs of jeans and socks onto the floor.

"Marley, kindly get your socks off my robes before I throw them out of the window."

"Come on Lil, they're not _that_ dirty, I've only worn them today."

"Mar."

"Fine, fine – hey Mary, do you have my skirt? I swear it was here a second ago."

"Nope – hang on, is this it? It's covered in cat hair, it's gross."

"Caspar, get _off_!"

This last exclamation came from Alice, and the other three turned to see what the usually mellow girl was sounding so angry about – and they soon saw. She was holding her robes at arms length, her other hand trying to push away the tabby that had its claws sunk into the fabric, hanging on vertically for dear life.

"Lily, _get your cat off of my robes_."

Mary supressed a grin and Marlene rolled her eyes and returned to pulling on her jumper as Lily hurried forward to detach the cat.

"Sorry, Al. I'll put him away. The holes aren't that noticeable."

Five minutes later they'd all changed and the train was pulling into the station, Lily having pulled aside the blinds to watch the approach of the platform. The train shuddered to a halt just by a large, old-fashioned sign reading 'HOGSMEADE STATION', with an arrow pointing into the darkness. Crashing began outside the compartment as people pulled their cases down, their owners calling to each other.

A pair of socks hit Lily in the back of the head as she did up her robes and she turned around, glaring at Marlene. "A little help?" Marlene pleaded, trying to stuff her jeans and t-shirt back into her overfilled trunk. Mary dropped the shirt she'd been wearing before she changed into her trunk and bent down to help. When they were done and Lily had been waiting for at least two minutes, Marlene rocked back onto her heels and eyed Alice's neat case enviously.

"There!" Mary said, clicking the trunk closed. "Ready?" Lily tightened her burgundy and gold striped Gryffindor tie and pulled at her ponytail until it sat a bit higher on her head, picking up her case and pulling it towards the door. Alice slid the door open and they were faced by a queue of students with cats, owls, trunks and toads, waiting to get off the train. Lily slipped her wand into her pocket and picked up Caspar's case, stepping out into the crowd and turning to yell back at the others. "I'll see you in the carriages!"

Twenty minutes, three toes that felt broken and a Hufflepuff second year's case dropping on her foot later, Lily stepped out into the crisp night air. Someone pushed her away from the door, and she narrowed her eyes to try to work out where the others were. The crowd surged forward and she gave up, sloshing through the puddles and thanking Merlin that it wasn't raining in Hogsmeade. The lights of Hogwarts twinkled through the black, and of Gryffindor tower stretching high above the rest of the castle, dwarfed only by the Astronomy tower.

"Lils!" Emmeline's voice cut through the din and she appeared in front of Lily, panting. "We've got a carriage!" She said, and beckoned Lily to follow her. Lily rolled her trunk across the crowded platform and onto the packed dirt road beyond, where a string of carriages were waiting.

"Um, excuse me. I'm trying to get to that carriage," Lily said. A small girl stood in front of her – probably a first or second year. "Excuse me?" She tried again, not wanting to slog through the massive puddle next to the girl. She was staring, fixated, at a point about two metres in front of the carriage. Lily squinted, but couldn't make anything out, and decided to walk around her – through the huge muddy puddle.

"Are you okay?" Lily asked gently, trying not to react to the freezing water seeping into her shoes, and the girl finally seemed to realise there was someone there. She squeaked and ran back in the direction of the train, her cloak billowing behind her.

"Was she alright?" Emma asked, pulling Lily's trunk in in front of her.

"No idea. She looked spooked though." She replied, shoving her case into the corner and flicking her wand towards her feet, drying them instantly.

A frown flickered across Marlene's face, and she glanced up. "What house was she in?" She asked.

"Slytherin, I think. Why?"

"I'm pretty sure that was Bridget Samuels, her mum died over the summer. Second year."

Lily frowned, trying to think back. "Samuels? Does she have an older brother, per chance?" She asked tentatively, remembering the article. The carriage jerked and started moving up the hill to the castle, and Lily held onto the seat. Marlene nodded in response, snapping her fingers.

"Yeah, that's it. You see the _Prophet _this morning? He was on the front page of that, something about the imperius curse. I think he was brought in on suspicion of her murder or something." She said, and Lily shivered a little, thinking back to the hunched little figure staring at the front of the carriage.

"Poor kid." Chipped in Emma, holding her owl's empty cage close to her. Deciding to change the subject, Lily's eyes flickered to the cage. "Where's Snitch?" She asked casually, indicating the cage and hoping that it would get them off the subject of murder and prison.

"He flew up before us, he's been cooped up all day." She replied, patting the cage meant for her tiny Scops owl, Snitch. "Besides, I don't think he'd appreciate Caspar at the moment." She laughed, pointing. Lily lifted the basket to eye level and looked through the bars, grinning. He was pressed up against the back of the basket, hissing and lashing out with his paw in the direction of Alice's tawny, Elmo.

"I'd get him out and give him a hug, but I think he'd make a leap for Elmo." Lily said, putting the basket down on her lap. "Poor thing, he's been stressed out ever since Petunia dumped him on me this morning, she wasn't happy." She said, resting her arms on top of the basket. Marlene made an exaggerated face at that, and Emma elbowed her in return, scolding: "You've only met her twice, Mar."

"Yeah, but those two times were _more _than enough, believe me." Marlene shuddered, glancing at Lily apologetically. "Sorry, Lil."

"If you're gonna be sorry about anything, be sorry about the fact that I have to live with her." Lily said, wrinkling her nose.

"She can't be that bad." Alice attempted from next to Marlene.

"Come on Al, it's been five years. You know that's not true." Lily replied, rolling her eyes. "Holidays are quite enough." Of course, that wasn't entirely true, but five years of estrangement and jealousy did that to a relationship. No matter how strong it had been before.

Alice changed the subject after a few seconds of silence. "D'you think Black ever got rid of the tusks? It's been a couple of hours now."

"Merlin, I hope not." Marlene replied, picking up on the change of subject. "He looked hilarious. Besides, everyone knows it's James who's good at counter hexes, and by how happy he looked I doubt he would have helped." Marlene looked gleeful, and Lily couldn't help but grin as the carriage ground to a halt.

Ten minutes later the group, now having been joined by Mary, were stood in the crowded Entrance hall waiting to file into the Great Hall for the feast. They'd got in early to stack their trunks against the wall of the stairs, and there was a lot of impatient murmuring as everyone waited for McGonagall to emerge through the doors. Twenty seconds later she did exactly that, and a mad stampede and two trampled second years later, they were seated at their respective house tables.

"Merlin, I hope Dumbledore hurries up with the announcements, I'm starving." Complained Mary, jiggling her legs up and down. Marlene grinned from across the table but looked equally as longingly at the empty plates and goblets in front of them, looking up hopefully when Dumbledore stood and clapped his hands to quiet the room.

"Now." He started, voice carrying through the whole hall. "We'll get right to the sorting in a moment, but first I have some notices. A few of you may have noticed the growing concern in the community of late."

Lily glanced at Marlene and they both looked over to the Slytherin table, where Bridget Samuels was siting, staring hard at the empty plate in front of her.

"I must urge you not to pay heed to these whispers. As long as you are in this castle, you are safe. Hogsmeade visits will continue, however a few minor security adjustments have been made. Mr Filch will be ensuring that students returning from Hogsmeade are not carrying illicit substances or items - Additionally, letters and parcels coming into the school will be searched. Apart from these no further measures are deemed necessary at this time."

Looking down the table, Lily noticed a few reassured faces, but she wasn't entirely convinced – the face from the front of the _Prophet_ kept looming up – Evan Samuels. She guessed that the majority of the people sitting around her hadn't seen that morning's paper.

" – like me to remind you that Fanged Frisbees are in fact a forbidden item, along with Self-tipping inkpots and Exploding cauldrons."

Lily shook her head to clear it and tried to turn her attention back to the headmaster, despite loud whispering and stifled sniggers coming from a few seats behind her.

"Shove it, Black." Hissed Marlene out of the corner of her mouth, while Lily stared determinedly at the front of the hall, resisting the urge to turn and check the state of Black's front teeth.

"And now, we begin the sorting."

About half an hour later, after the last first year ('Yates, Pauline') was seated at the Ravenclaw table, the food appeared in front of them; huge mounds of buttered new potatoes, plates full of garlic bread and baguette slices, baskets of freshly baked, still warm dinner rolls, burnished copper tureens of every kind of soup imaginable, and large, shallow bowls of salad and buttered vegetables. Lily ladled herself a bowl of butternut squash soup, snatched up a couple of rolls before Marlene piled them all onto her own plate and poured herself a huge goblet of pumpkin juice.

"Lil, parsh me dat buther dish?" Marlene asked around a mouthful of carrots, potato and bread.

"Ugh, Marley, say it don't spray it." Mary complained, picking carefully at the plate of pasta salad in front of her and nudging her goblet away from Marlene as Lily passed over the dish.

The rest of the meal passed much like that, with sparing conversation and very little consideration for table manners. The main courses came and went, leaving piles of profiteroles bursting with cream and foot-long dishes of steaming crumble and pie in their wake. After a plate of lamb chops and two wedges of heavily iced, rich chocolate cake, Lily found herself climbing the hundreds of stairs to the Gryffindor tower in a kind of food-induced coma.

"Anyone know the password?" Came the call down the flights, and Frank Longbottom, the Head Boy, pushed up from behind them.

"It's _Draco Ignis_ for god's sake, someone open the door!" He called back, bracing himself on the banister. The crowd surged forward as the portrait swung open and Lily was soon standing in the richly upholstered common room; tapestries lining the stone walls and a roaring fire burning in the grate, crowded by large plushy burgundy sofas. Home.

"Lil? We're going up to unpack, you coming?"

Lily turned and nodded at Mary, smiling. "Yeah, yeah, coming." She replied, lingering by the fire for a second before patting the arm of the sofa and following her dorm mates.

"Ugh, why are first years always so in the _way_?" Marlene complained, side stepping a scared looking eleven year old and continuing to the dorm.

"And you wonder why you weren't made a prefect?" Lily called after her, while Alice bent down to talk to the boy. Lily and Mary continued up the stairs with Marlene, pushing open the heavy wooden door to their dormitory and walking inside.

"Home, sweet home." Commented Mary, before bounding over to her bed and bouncing onto it, stretching her legs out. Lily half-grinned in reply and made her way over to her own bed by the window, letting down the end two drapes and heaving her trunk onto the bed.

"Merlin, I swear this got heavier while we were at the feast." She complained loudly, as Alice slipped in and closed the door.

"You had two slices of cake and about 14 lamp chops, a quill would feel heavy to you right now." Mary commented, drumming her fingers against her knee. Lily flipped open the lid of her case and looked inside despairingly at the squashed and wrinkled clothing, regretting her decision to shove everything in that morning.

"Please, Marley. Make more noise." Lily grinned at the dry tone of voice Alice was using and turned to watch Marlene dragging her case along the floorboards, squeaking and bumping as it went.

"I vote we just get pyjamas and clean robes tonight, unpacking can wait." Mary reasoned, swinging her legs off of the bed to get to her case.

"I'm with you on that one." Replied Marlene, pulling out her pyjamas and toiletries and resolutely flipping the lid shut again.

"Hey Al, know anything about the quidditch odds this season?" Lily asked, leaning back against her headboard and crossing her legs.

"Well, Frank said that –" At this, Lily and Mary shot each other a look and Marlene could be heard huffing from the bathroom.

"What?" Alice asked, bewildered. "What is it?" She insisted, throwing a pillow at Lily's head. "Tell me!" She looked between the two expectantly, eyebrows raised.

"Nothing, Al. You were saying?" Mary coaxed, as Lily threw the pillow back. Alice pouted but hugged the pillow, narrowing her eyes.

"Fine. Hufflepuff have got the worst odds, and Gryffindor and Ravenclaw are pretty much the same. He said that Slytherin are the favourites, what with their new seeker, what's-his-name. Avery?" Alice furrowed her brow.

"Yeah, it's Avery." Confirmed Marlene, emerging from the bathroom wearing tartan pyjama trousers, a grey camisole and carrying her robes over one arm. "I reckon that people are betting without James Potter, though. Apparently he's been practicing over the summer."

Lily wanted to argue with that logic, but even she couldn't deny that James was the best chaser in the school, and with Marlene on the team as a fairly close second, they should be unbeatable. "People always bet on new players, it's more exciting." She reasoned, standing up to take her turn changing. "We've kept pretty much the same team as last year, except for the new keeper and Potter making captain."

As she finished speaking the courtyard clock boomed ten o'clock through the school, and Marlene shrugged, getting into bed. "First game of the year in a few weeks, we'll see then. Ravenclaw vs. Gryffindor, I think."

By eleven o'clock almost everyone in the tower was asleep, but if you stood in the right place and listened hard, you would be able to hear Remus Lupin's shoe hitting James Potter in the side of the head, and the answering grunt of pain, as the natural order of Hogwarts was resumed and the school year began.

At seven o'clock the next morning, the shrieking of Marlene's alarm clock pierced the room. Mary was the first to sit up, groaning and rubbing her eyes. Marlene simply thumped a pillow down on top of her own head to block out the wailing, and Alice almost rolled off of the bed trying to free herself from her tangled sheets. It was Lily who stopped the noise, accompanied by a sense of déja vu, by thumping a large book down on the clock, which had sprouted legs and started running around the room, hopping up and down and tooting happily. She bent down groggily and extracted the clock, which somehow looked dazed for a moment before tooting again and returning to its normal, inconspicuous state.

"Whuzzgoinon?" Mary yawned hugely and swung her legs off the bed, looking up at the ceiling through half-closed eyes. "I swear, Marlene, I'm ready to throw that thing out of the window and it's only the first day.

"Shhhh, it's too early." Alice whispered across the room, squealing indignantly when a barely conscious Marlene whipped her covers off. "Hey!"

"I call first shower." Announced Lily, after noticing the knotted, scraggly mess that was her ponytail. _No surprises there_. The statement was greeted by groans and complaints throughout the room, loudest of all from Marlene who was still standing at the foot of Alice's bed.

"Come on, Lil, you take like 40 minutes. We'll get to breakfast at eleven o'clock."

"Too bad. I'm in there first." Replied Lily stubbornly, picking up her toiletries bag and robes and stepping towards the bathroom just as a rumbling snore permeated the room. "Someone should probably wake Al up again."

Forty minutes later they were all standing in the doorway of the great hall, witnessing the carnage of the first day's breakfast feast. Mary took the first step, walking towards the far end of the Gryffindor table and dodging a quaffle that came flying past her head. "Watch it!" She yelled angrily, turning around to where Davey Abbott, a Hufflepuff seventh year, was looking guiltily down at her small form.

"Sorry, Mary. Won't happen again."

"You bet it won't." Lily heard Mary reply, but she didn't really sound angry any more. Mary slid onto the bench a few feet from the front of the room, joined a couple of seconds by Lily, Marlene and Alice.

"You should really give him a break, he's like a little puppy dog." Commented Marlene, pulling a box of Cheeri-Owls and a jug of milk towards her.

"I have been. Mostly. He should be more careful with that quaffle." Mary replied, thoughtfully munching on a piece of toast. "No wonder Hufflepuff are at the bottom of the league."

Lily poured herself a goblet of pumpkin juice and piled toast, eggs and bacon onto her plate, listening to the conversation. "About that, where exactly does Frank hear all this stuff, Alice?" She asked, slapping Marlene's hand as she reached forward to steal a piece of bacon off of Lily's plate.

"That's for me to know and you to find out, Evans." Came the reply from behind Lily and Mary, and they turned to see Frank Longbottom standing with his hands in his pockets and a grin on his face. "Budge up, MacDonald."

"Aw, come on Frank. Can't you sit next to Alice? There's loads of room over there." Argued Mary, having been squashed up against Lily's arm. Lily glanced up to see Alice hiding behind her goblet, seemingly very interested in her bowl of porridge.

"And miss the opportunity to steal your breakfast? No chance." He replied, doing just that and dodging Mary's slapping hands. "Anyway, I came over to talk about that Ravenclaw you guys hang out with. Emmeline Vance?"

The four girls nodded, looking bewildered – perhaps Alice most of all, Lily noted. "It's just that I'm meant to be putting forward possible names for next year's head girl and boy, and the Ravenclaw prefects suggested her. Any comments?"

They all nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, she'd be great at it." Lily said, taking a bite of her toast. "She's already a prefect, so she's had practice, and she's great at dealing with the younger years." She added, thinking back to the incident on the train with the fanged Frisbee.

"Who else are you putting forward?" Alice asked, having seemingly recovered.

"No spoilers, Fortescue. I only came over here to ask about Emmeline because I'm thinking that her housemates might be a little biased when it comes to naming one of their own as head girl."

Alice shrugged and took a spoonful of porridge, making a face as it burned her mouth. Frank grinned in return and stood up, brushing his hands off. "See you guys around, and don't tell Vance about this."

"No worries." Marlene saluted, finishing her cereal and pushing her bowl away. "You handled that gracefully, Alice."

"Handled what?" Alice replied, her face teetering dangerously on the edge of red again. Marlene shook her head disbelievingly and tapped her fingers on the table, looking up at the roof. "Post's late today." She commented.

"It's the first day, what post are you expecting?" Mary asked, taking a swig of pumpkin juice.

"Fair point. Newspapers should be – oh, here they are."

Lily looked up to the ceiling as owls began streaming in through the small openings in the walls, dropping an assortment of parcels, letters and papers on the table in front of them. Grabbing a copy of the _Prophet _before the third year next to her could, she unfurled it and looked at the front page. "ARE THE DRINKS AT THE LEAKY CAULRON A WATERED-DOWN WASTE OF MONEY?"

"Nothing too ominous in the paper today – hang on, Evan Samuels' sentence has been read. He was convicted of murdering his mother and placing the imperius curse on various high-ups in the Ministry. He's got 40 years to life in Azkaban." Lily finished. Marlene sucked air through her teeth and shook her head.

"I wonder which high-ups?" She rested her chin in her hands.

"Aloysius Trumpett was one of them, he works in my mother's office." Came the reply, again from behind Lily and Mary – but this time is was James Potter who had replied. "Magical law enforcement, that Samuels bloke was forcing him to release suspects, find criminals innocent, etcetera etcetera."

Lily looked up at him, puzzled for the second time in as many days at how… _Normal_ he was acting.

"Close your mouth, Evans, we are not a codfish." He patted her on the shoulder and sauntered off, hands in his pockets.

"That's more like it." Lily commented, rolling her eyes.

"Huh. Anyway, we've been in here for about half an hour, everyone done?" Mary asked, brushing her hands off on her robes and pulling her chestnut ponytail over her shoulder. The others nodded, standing up and walking the length of the hall back to the doors, not noticing the venomous stare of Severus Snape, sitting to their left and watching Lily and James, jealousy burning in his chest.

Lily's first lesson of the year was potions with Professor Slughorn, and she said goodbye to the others in the entrance hall as they split off to transfiguration and charms. Descending the spiralling staircase alone, she felt the air get gradually more frigid and held her books close to her chest. She reached the bottom and walked along the corridor to the door of the classroom, jogging the last few steps and calling to Benjy Fenwick, who was apparently in her class.

"Benjy! Hang on a sec." She slowed to a halt next to him and he grinned at her, pushing the door open. They weren't exactly friends, but Lily was grateful to see a Gryffindor she knew in her class. They walked in together, met by Slughorn's booming voice.

"Lily! Fenwick! I'd started to think you weren't joining us! You gave me quite the fright, Miss Evans." He chuckled jovially, hands on his round stomach. "Please, please, sit down." He waved a hand towards the double desk at the front and Lily gave Benjy a look.

"_Teacher's pet_." He mouthed to her, but sat down in the chair anyway, grinning slightly.

"_Shut up_." She mouthed back, elbowing him.

"Settle down, settle down. Now, for your first N.E.W.T. class I thought we'd go for something rather out of the ordinary - set the year off with a bang, if you will." He said, beaming. There was some shuffling from behind Lily and Benjy's table as the silence stretched, and then Slughorn clapped his hands together. "This little brew is called a Detonation Draught, and when mixed with the right liquid creates quite the colourful explosion. Now, the page you'll need is 143, and all the ingredients can be found in the store cupboard in the back. Begin!"

While he had been talking the students had pulled out their textbooks and started slowly riffling through the pages to find the right one, looking up in surprise when he told them to start so soon. A couple of seconds later a huge screeching began as everyone scraped their chairs along the stone floor, rushing to the back to get the good ingredients. Benjy was thankfully almost at the front, so Lily set to getting the cauldron and textbook ready, and looking around at the rest of the class. There were a couple of other Gryffindors, one of which she recognised as Dorcas Meadowes, 5 Ravenclaws she didn't know, a couple of Hufflepuffs and 3 Slytherin students. Lily silently, and slightly guilting, thanked Merlin that Snape wasn't included in the three.

"Lily?" She turned to see Benjy standing with his arms full of ingredients, looking at her expectantly. "I asked if you had your scales."

Lily nodded and pulled them to the front of the desk, and set about making the potion. Fifty minutes later the room was filled with an acrid, bitter smell and a lot of sulphurous yellow smoke floating in clouds around their heads, and Slughorn dismissed them with slightly singed eyebrows and a burnt sleeve cuff.

"I think he started regretting that decision pretty quickly." Benjy laughed, picking up his books.

"Hmm. I'm thinking the next lesson might be a little more dull." Lily replied, starting up the stairs. "What do you have next?"

"Transfiguration, you?"

"Charms. I'll see you later in the common room." Lily smiled as they reached the entrance hall and Benjy raised a hand in farewell, walking off in the opposite direction to Lily.

The rest of the day went pretty much like that, with Transfiguration following Charms and Lily being placed on the other side of the classroom from Potter and Black, thank Merlin. By five thirty she was exhausted, and grateful for the squashy armchair by the fire and the relative quiet of the Common Room.

Lily woke up four hours later, and looked around the darkened room blearily, getting her bearings.

"Lily?"

"Hnng, wha?"

"I agree, actually."

Lily looked up accusingly to where the voice was coming from and was surprised to meet the tired amber eyes of Remus Lupin, who was sitting in the chair across from her with a heavy Arithmancy textbook on his lap.

"It's nine thirty, your friends brought something up from dinner for you."

"I'm surprise Marlene didn't wake me up, she's not exactly tactful." Lily yawned, sitting up and looking down, puzzled, as a heavy blanket fell off of her onto the rug.

"Yeah, well. Ja- Um. _Someone_ must have convinced her not to, I guess."

"Someone? Was is the same someone who put this on me?" Lily held up the blanket and pulled it back over her legs.

"Don't know, didn't see them." Mumbled Lupin, flipping a page in his book. "I put the food next to the fire so it stayed warm, by the way." He added, waving a hand over to the fire.

"Huh. Thanks, Lupi – Remus."

"No problem. You should probably go up to bed in a minute, Lily, everyone else went up ages ago."

"Yeah, good plan." Lily stood up and stretched, looking at Lupin for a couple of seconds before deciding not to ask him about his strange sleeping patterns. They weren't even friends, not really.

"See you around, Remus." He looked up from his book and smiled, looking slightly bewildered.

"Bye, Lily."


End file.
